Ash Wednesday gives us a chance to reflect on ways in which we have hurt God’s people and damaged God’s world – both in the things we have done and in the things we have failed to do. It is a time to confess our part in contributing to environmental degradation through our behaviours and lifestyle.
And as we ‘repent and believe the good news’ it is a chance to commit ourselves anew to take action, to commit ourselves to 40 ‘little acts of good’.
Creator God, we marvel that we are made from the dust of the earth, intimately connected and uniquely purposed within your creation. Yet we confess that we have polluted this planet with sin and soot, dirtying the world with unclean fuels and burning forests to ash. We have disconnected ourselves from our relationship to this planet; our actions and lifestyle choices have caused hurt to our neighbours near and far.
Lord have mercy.
(Adapted from Living Lent)